Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Interesting facts

3.575 million people die each year from water-related disease. 43% of water-related deaths are due to diarrhea. 84% of water-related deaths are in children ages 0 - 14. 98% of water-related deaths occur in the developing world. The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns. At any given time, half of the world's hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from a water-related disease. Less than 1% of the world's fresh water (or about 0.007% of all water on earth) is readily accessible for direct human use.

Only 62% of the world's population has access to improved sanitation - defined as a sanitation facility that ensures hygienic separation of human excreta from human contact. 2.5 billion people lack access to improved sanitation, including 1.2 billion people who have no facilities at all. The majority of the illness in the world is caused by fecal matter.Lack of sanitation is the world's biggest cause of infection. At any one time, more than half of the poor in the developing world are ill from causes related to hygiene, sanitation and water supply. 88% of cases of diarrhea worldwide are attributable to unsafe water, inadequate sanitation or insufficient hygiene. It is estimated that improved sanitation facilities could reduce diarrhea-related deaths in young children by more than one-third. If hygiene promotion is added, such as teaching proper hand washing, deaths could be reduced by two thirds. It would also help accelerate economic and social development in countries where sanitation is a major cause of lost work and school days because of illness.

Impacts on ChildrenEvery 15 seconds, a child dies from a water-related disease. Children in poor environments often carry 1,000 parasitic worms in their bodies at any time. 1.4 million children die as a result of diarrhea each year. 90% of all deaths caused by diarrheal diseases are children under 5 years of age, mostly in developing countries.------------------------------------------------------------------------------This information was found: http://water.org/waterpartners.aspx?pgID=916